Stop Tory Plans to Scrap the Minimum Wage

time4change — Sat, 09 May 2009 07:32:16 +0000

Many Low Paid Shop Workers Rely on the National Minimum Wage
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One of the proudest achievements of the Labour Government has been the introduction of the National Minimum Wage in 1999. Gone are the days when my Mother used to clean launderettes for £2 an hour. The National Minimum Wage was introduced at £3.60 and it helped raise the living standards of over £2 million people. At the time the introduction was opposed by the Conservatives. The Conservative leader at the time, William Hague, went so far as saying it was ‘the height of reckless irresponsibility’. Since the introduction, Labour has increased the National Minimum Wage by over 60% to £5.73 an hour. I too have worked in low paid jobs as a shop worker and I know how important the minimum wage can be.

However, Conservatives out there are still opposed to the National Minimum Wage and the help it gives to poor people. On Friday 15th May, the Employment Opportunities Bill was debated in Parliament. The Bill was put forward by Conservative backbenchers and it would have enabled employers to ‘opt-out’ of the National Minimum Wage.

If passed, the system would be wide open to abuse by unscrupulous employers. For instance an employment agency could write a Minimum Wage Opt-Out into any contract potential staff would have to sign.

Unbelievably, Conservatives tried to claim it was against people’s ‘Human Right to work’ to have a Minimum Wage.

I am leading the York campaign against any such move. However, Wage Concern is a national grassroots campaign – and we need your help.

Let’s show Conservatives that the people of York don’t support their ridiculous, dangerous and immoral position by:

…1. Signing our petition here
…2. Joining our campaign mailing list here
…3. Getting your friends to join our Facebook group

The fact they’d support this Bill in the middle of a recession shows that no matter how hard Cameron pretends, he cannot change the DNA of his own party.

Tory MPs who supported the Bill:
Mr. Christopher Chope, Mr. Peter Bone, Philip Davies, Mr. Nigel Evans, Mr. Greg Knight, Mr. Edward Leigh, Mr. Ian Liddell-Grainger, Mr. Brian Binley, Mr. William Cash, Mr. Robert Syms and Mr. David Wilshire.

Councillor James Alexander
Prospective Labour MP for York Outer

yorkwageconcern

Stop Tory Plans to Scrap the Minimum Wage